A Swell Guy

Pulled out about dark and moved far north of T____ . It was another lousy march altho the weather was better. Slept normally from 11 o’clock on.

We received orders to pull out at night. It was a hell of a march- Cold, rainy, poor roads- we sat in one spot for 2 hrs- We finally found regt in the div assembly area north of T____.

Bought 300 eggs for the company from an Arab- Payed 1200 fr. for them but cared not.

We were able to watch the most horrible fire works I have ever seen. Traces, star shells, flares, shell burst, explosions, burning vehicles it was a bit of Hell erupted there to the earth’s surface.

About noon I waved for the last time to all the line officers of the 2nd Bn- They never came back- except Winkler who was badly burned. It was odd that the last day of my first yr of service should be the last date of my life with so many of these friends. They are gone. Alger, Emory, [Manchus], Peyton, Hooker, Laughlin, Cochrell, Flanders, Herr, Holder, Flanagan, Leger, and others. It was horrible to watch all their tanks burn. We never had a chance to go forward- took each of a few casualties that were brought back- Met Fred that nite and learned that McKee and 11 men were missing since the day before- Gabbard was killed. It is all stunning, incomprehensible.

We had breakfast at 0500 hrs and did not move ‘til 1630 hours- Saw Karl and the Col at our new area. Things look bad- We are in for a tough fight with the odds all against us- Poor Alger seems heart broken- the Col looks 10 yrs older- This will be no fun.

Most of the officers were paid today and we had a crap game at nite. I won $60 after being about $200 ahead-Lou and Blachise [leger?] $10 of it. During game we were told to be ready to move by daylight.

After a very sleepless nite I wrote Esther a long letter- I hope I don’t hurt her too much but I felt justified in warning her that she was endangering something of great value to us- I love her too much not to do all I can to safeguard our love just as it is. Felt better after having taken this step. It is still cold- still windy.

Woke up in a swirling snow storm damn near froze getting dressed but it warmed a little by noon. Received a package of food from Esther and a batch of letters- one told of a gay eveneng with Bob- it set me thinking and I eventually became quite disturbed over it- there is danger in too much proximity of people who are mutually attractive- I kept thinking of the story Harry F told me- also of others- could not decide on question of writing to Esther or Bob or not at all—

That nite took off with Jimmy Cockwell and his platoon to fire in direct line of enemy position. Pulled back after marching for 1 hr by order of Gen. Ted Roosevelt who suffered a change of mind that was most aggravating.

This story evoked quite a bull session amongst us. It proves how differently people can believe in one situation.

A very interesting day- Bob and I travelled about 100 miles over next to impassable roads, paths, fields and forests. I’ll swear no motor vehicle ever passed thru there before- It was fun. We picked up a hitch hiker who wanted a ride back too. Got lost once and my limited French and map knowledge saved day- We were worried when an Arab guided us towards the German lines but his path soon arrived in the correct direction- I began to finger my Tommy Gun anxiously at the time-Saw many burnt and shot up vehicles- also two recently killed French soldiers but did not ascertain the cause of death. Saw lots of ack ack over P___ but we weren’t bothered. Received bunch of mail on return.

A quiet, uneventful day- It rained a little- the damn wind just blows and blows. I’m bored asked the old man for permission to go on a reconnaissance trip and will do so in AM with Sweeney.

I’ve fired them before. If those bastards attack me I’ll fire back. I’d give a month’s pay to bring down a plane.

“If British had known they would lose 2 large battleships they would never have used them to defend Singapore”. Brilliant, isn’t it? One program for Americans says the British are overambitious and one for the British slams the Yanks - They are clever but don’t fool our boys.

It’s very cold up here the wind blows continually.

We decided they knew too much about us and changed bivouacs that nite- just a few miles away.